After a lovely breakfast on the rooftop terrace at our riad and a tour through American Legation we headed back to Casablanca and dropped our stuff at the hotel. We had a lovely walk along the Corniche and had pizza right on the waterfront.

The next morning, which was New Year’s Eve day we headed out to a vineyard and winery a little under an hour outside of Casablanca. The countryside was beautiful as we traveled away from the city. The winery was exquisitely beautiful and an amazing oasis to find.

The drive way up to the vineyard.

Entrance from the porch.

We enjoyed a glass of wine near the pool before going in to have lunch.

Wine by the pool on New Year’s Eve.

It was a relatively set menu, with a couple of choices. After a couple of bottles of wine it was a heady experience! Ha We wandered around the gardens, then we headed back to Casablanca.

Things were very lush and green here.

Some unique plants too.

After such an exorbitant and sumptuous afternoon, we decided to forgo an evening “event.” So, 2015 arrived without too much fanfare.

The next day we were up to pack, prepare, get breakfast and head to the airport. We returned our rental car and made our way to the gate. It was an uneventful trip home, and it felt good to get back to Kuwait.

It was hard settling back into the time zone here though. I had many restless nights. I also returned to a broken microwave, so I have been reheating the old fashioned way.

The next morning we awoke to rain. The first we had on the trip! We were driving again, this time to Tanger (Tangier) via Rabat. The rain let up and stopped by the time we were an hour from Fes. We arrived in Tangier mid afternoon and called our host to show us where to park and find our riad.

Spanish influence in Tanger

Spanish architectural influence in Tanger

Beautiful day in a beautiful city

He took us to park the car and then we hiked up (and up and up) into the medina to find our riad. Again, it was kind of low-rent looking from the outside and beautiful inside. We had tea up on the roof terrace and looked out over the city.

Tanger from the rooftop of our riad

Opposite direction rooftop view

Due to a little mix-up, I again got to sleep in the ‘loft’, which was reached by ladder and was not tall enough for even I to stand up in. (I hit my head a couple times.)

Ladder to the loft

My tiny bed space in the loft

Bathroom view from toilet

Doorway of our room at the riad.

In the common area of our riad.

This affirms my decision for my tiny house to have bed and bath on the same level. We got a recommendation for a place to sit, relax, and have some nibbles and then returned to join another couple from Sweden staying at the riad to have dinner at a traditional Berber restaurant.

Musicians at dinner in Tanger

Interior decor at the Berber restaurant

The musicians were exuberant and our waiter ancient. Tanger has been working for the last four years (and it looks like they’re less than ½ done) on rebuilding their port into the biggest in North Africa. It is a massive undertaking and spanned most of the coastline in this part of the city.

In case you didn’t read Gabe’s post, on the way from Rabat to Tanger we saw the construction of a high-speed rail to connect the two cities, with plans for extensions to Casablanca and eventually Marrakech.

Shepherds and their flocks wandered among and near all this heavy machinery. The main highways we used were toll roads and the police very effectively use this to monitor and fine people for speeding. One with a radar gun is stationed, often concealed in the bushes, recording speeds and license plates. He radios to the ones stationed by the toll booth to flag down offenders and collect the fine. In addition to police presence, there were soldiers very evident in each city. They always appeared in threes, with some sort of local police person in the middle with a side arm and two officers in fatigues with machine guns strolling up and down the main streets. Taxis in Tanger seemed to mostly be old Mercedes and were almost always packed to the gills: 4 in the back seat, 2 in the front and it appeared they rarely knew each other.

Between Rabat and Tanger there were huge areas of plastic greenhouses of a sort.

Greenhouses

It appears they wrapped big groves of banana, tangerine, and lemon (probably other species as well) trees in big plastic tents. Lower down on the ground were fields with long rows of plastic covered plants. I guessed maybe strawberries, but who knows.

Just before leaving Tanger we visited the American Legation there. It is the oldest legation in the world as Morocco was the first country to acknowledge the newly formed US. It was quite interesting and a beautiful oasis in the middle of a busy city.

On the wall as you enter.

American Legation

Courtyard at the American Legation building

Toy soldiers set up to demonstrate a battle. This is for Don.

Looking across the courtyard at rooms of the American Legation. It was quite expansive.

I really liked this city, probably not least because it had a strong European influence due to being so close to Spain.

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